Chem. Mater. 2009, 21, 2661–2667 2661 DOI:10.1021/cm900048e
Synthesis of Intermetallic PtZn Nanoparticles by Reaction of Pt Nanoparticles with Zn Vapor and Their Application as Fuel Cell Catalysts Akira Miura, Hongsen Wang, Brian M. Leonard, Hector D. Abru~ na, and Francis. J. DiSalvo* Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Baker Laboratory, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853 Received January 7, 2009. Revised Manuscript Received May 11, 2009
Intermetallic PtZn nanoparticles with stable and high activities toward formic acid and methanol electrooxidation were synthesized by reaction of carbon-supported Pt nanoparticles with Zn vapor at 500 °C for 8 h under flowing nitrogen at atmospheric pressure. The resulting well-dispersed 3-15 nm diameter PtZn nanoparticles were tetragonal phase (P4/mmm: a=0.2842(1) nm, c=0.3488(3) nm) and their Pt:Zn ratio was approximately 1:1. Reactions using unsupported Pt nanoparticles (
